Untitled HP fanfic: Begun May 13th 2006
by pRoNgS-78
Summary: Well, this is my second attempt at a fanfic. DISCLAIMER: Everyone, thing, and place is the work of the creative genius of JK Rowling. My two original characters, Milla and Rowena, however, are the work of my creative genius
1. Chapter 1

**Untitled HP Fanfic - Begun May 13th 2006  
**_(just to let you know, this story continues on into 7th year but HBP never happened)_

Chapter 1

Almost able to forget just how unbearably hot his small bedroom was that summer, Harry collapsed onto his usual seat in their usual booth on the train. That had been his last ever summer at the Dursleyís, and he was bursting with a kind of happiness that had been unknown to him for too long. He let out a sigh of relief and looked out the window at the passing station.

"Bet you're happy to be outta there eh, Harry?" Ron had finally come in and sat across from him after saying about six too many goodbyes to his mother, who was 'Just soooo happy that you've got to Seventh year.'

"You're telling me. There goes 6 years of my life I'll never get back." he shoved his suitcase underneath the bench, first taking out the small satchel of coins for when the lunch trolley came around.

Hermione poked her head in (she had been up at the front meeting with the other Head Boys and Girls). "I'm afraid our meeting is going to be a little bit longer than normal, so I wonít be joining you for a while." Without waiting for their acknowledgement she turned full circle and trotted down the corridor. Ron shrugged and began searching for his money. Harry however, couldnít move his gaze from the doorway. Just as Hermione had left, a tall girl dressed completely in black, and with long black hair flashed past.

"Harry?" Ron had stopped rummaging through his bag when he noticed Harry staring at the open door."Hmm? Oh, sorry..." Harry felt his face get hot, "I dropped off for a second."  
Ron raised his eyebrows at him. "More like thirty." Harry shrugged and went back to staring out the window.

----------------

Once they had all gathered into the Great Hall, they watched the sorting of the first years. This year they decided to make the sorting of the older new students public as well. After the first years were all sorted and seated, the far shorter line of older students were brought in. Harry didn't notice the sheer change in numbers, nor did he notice the impertinent fact that most of the new students were in 7th year. All he noticed, was the girl who was leading them. The same girl with the long black hair that had passed their booth on the train. Now that she was closer, he could get a better look at her. She wasnít wearing any school robes, or any kind of robes at all. Instead she was dressed head to toe in a black pantsuit. That fact alone was enough to show that she was most definitely not a student. That said, she didn't look that much older than 17.  
_  
She couldn't possibly be a teacher. _Harry watched her right up to the small stage, watched her shake hands with Professor McGonagal, and sit behind the staff table, and continued to stare at her in some kind of unwavering trance. Until Hermione tapped him on the shoulder and told him that he was about to fall off the bench. It was that moment that Harry did indeed fall off the bench. Everything stopped. Professor McGonagal stopped reading names, every head turned to look at him. He heard some snickering, and picked himself up and sat back down. Hermione and Ron both looked at him skeptically, and he felt his face flush. When everyone had continued on with the sorting, Harry chanced a quick glance at the black-suited girl. She caught his eye and smiled, which made him turn an even deeper shade of crimson.

When the main course arrived, Harry did his absolute best not to look anywhere near the staff table. When the main course disappeared and deserts showed up, he was still persistant. The one time he looked anywhere near the staff table was when he paid his full attention to Dumbledore's speech. Some time around 11 o' clock, the three of them climbed the stairs to the Gryffindor tower. They said the password (Bowtruckles), and crashed onto one of the gigantic chesterfields beside the fire. All Harry could muster up the energy to do was stare determinedly into the fire and think and wonder about that girl. At one point, Ron said something that Harry couldn't quite hear, which led Hermione to slug him with a sofa cushion. The two continued laughing hysterically (Hermione adding in a few eye-rolls), for the next 5 minutes. Off in the distance, Harry could just hear someone calling his name... _Harry... Harry?  
_  
"Harry!" Hermione hit him with the pillow this time.  
Harry jerked around, startled, "Sorry?"   
"Aren't you going up to bed?" Hermione asked him impatiently, which clued him in that she had asked it more than once.  
"Right, I'll be up soon." Harry replied softly before turning back to the fire. Behind him Ron shrugged and began to climb the stairs to the boys' dormitories. Hermione spent one last questioning glance at Harry before turning away and going up to bed.

----------------

Harry didn't see the girl again over the weekend. On Saturday, he got his course sheet, unpacked his books, and got any he needed from the Library. On Sunday, there was nothing left to do, so Harry, Ron, and Hermione went for a walk down to Hagrid's. After supper, Harry and Ron stayed in the common room and played Wizard Chess while Hermione went to the Library to get more books.

Monday was their first unoffical day of class. The entire school wandered from classroom to classroom to dungeon, checking they had all the right books and getting the same dull speech from the same professors they've had for years. Harry and Ron both had Potions first, while Hermione had Advanced Ancient Runes. They all had Charms together after that, and then they had lunch. Harry hadn't got a single sighting of his mystery girl all morning, and the staff table was empty all through lunch.

Once they had eaten, they answered the call of the class bell by wandering down the hill to the Herbology greenhouses. They were taking their lecture with Ravenclaw today. Everyone filed in and chose a spot, then waited for Professor Sprout to begin. Whilst they waited, Harry scanned the crowd, searching for people he knew. His eyes landed on one girl, wearing Ravenclaw robes, with long black hair. She wasn't the girl from the train, that was certain, but she certainly bared a stong resemblance. She looked a bit younger than the other girl. Nevertheless, his wanderings of the mind were halted when Professor Sprout entered the room.

"Today, as you all know, is the one day when you won't be needing to wear gloves." an odd phrase to start off with, but that was fairly normal with all Hogwarts teachers. "Today, is... an introduction. Am I correct in saying that we have a few new students here?" Some of them nodded shyly, and a couple shrank down in their chairs.

"If you're new, stand up!" Professor Sprout proclaimed energetically. Four students rose awkwardly from their seats, including the black-haired girl. "State your names please, I'm sure we'd all love to get to know you!" Sprout continued on, practically bouncing with delight. "First you, dear."

A tallish boy with brick red hair and wearing Gryffindor robes squeaked, "My name's Robert. Robert Pollins." Professor Sprout nodded and the boy immediately sat down, his face red enough to match his hair. The professor pointed at another two, who stated their names and both plopped down, red in the face. Then Sprout nodded at the black-haired girl.

"Milla Waverly, ma'am." She was scottish, with a delicate, but full accent, that reminded Harry a lot of Cho. For a moment his thoughts drifted off to past years, before Hermione noticed his glazed-over expression and nudged him quite roughly.

Professor Sprout had already moved on."Before we continue with the course introduction, I should bring out your Student Teacher." There was a bit of chatter after that remark.

"Student Teacher?""What's that?"  
"How do you become one?"  
"Do you enter some kind of contest?"

Sprout grasped her wand and sent out a high pitched whistle. Everyone in the greenhouse covered their ears. "Alright, settle down! As I was saying, we are going to have a Student Teacher for half the year, Professor Flitwick will get her for the other half. Come out, dear!"

Shock. That was the initial feeling that shot through Harry's body like a jolt of electricity. From behind a thick curtain of ivy, emerged the mystery girl! Long black hair, black pantsuit, and energetic blue eyes.

"Hello, there." She spoke with the same scottish voice as the younger girl. "My name is Rowena Waverly." The black-haired girl, Milla, waved to her from her seat, as Harry glanced wildy back and forth between the two of them.

* * *

**  
Alright, so I know I started a fanfic a while ago, but as far as I could tell, it wasn't going anywhere, so this time I'm planning it out. I've made character webs and plot outlines and so on... Well we'll just see how far this one goes. It's basically got the same characters, but with a few changes ;) **

**Chapter Two will be along shortly **

** Hmm... I still haven't thought of a title for this one yet... maybe it will be the revised version of the saphire pendant...**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

* * *

Harry couldn't focus. His mind was off in six different directions. That girl, Rowena was a student teacher, that's why she hadn't been wearing school robes. And her sister... what was her name... Milla? Herbology was going to be interesting... Of course, Harry had been far too consumed in these thoughts to notice that Professor Sprout had begun to explain a partner project that they would be assigned next class. 

"Tomorrow, I will assign you a partner and a plant. You will then research the properies and history of the plant, and start caring for your own specimen. You and your partner will be expected to keep the thing alive, and then to present your plant and your findings to the class in two weeks time..." everyone else was looking around, wondering who they'd be paired with, but Harry was staring off into the abyss, not hearing a single word.

-------------------

After Herbology had ended, and Hermione and Ron had finally managed to get Harry to move, the three of them headed down to their Care of Magical Creatures lecture. As per usual, Hagrid had completely abandoned the plans and had brought out a few crates full of various creatures. The first crate looked suspiciously like Skrewts.

"Well, if everyone would gather 'round we can start." Hagrid saw his three favorite students and waved them closer.

"Hagrid, " Hermione started, glancing cautiously at the nearest box, "those aren't Skrewts are they?" They all jumped as a single spark of electricity sprang from the crate.  
"No... they're not Skrewts.." Hagrid said shiftily..."They're Knewts."  
"Newts?" Ron raised his eyebrows. "I didn't know newts could do that..."  
"They're not lizards. I did some... experimentation over the summer..." Hagrid opened the latch on the crate and everyone stepped back about 2 feet. A small, cat-like creature stepped out into the now large circle. At once everyone knew what a Knewt was. Hagrid had 'experimented' breeding Knarls and Skrewts. How, was a mystery, but he seemed to have done it. The body of a Knarl, but with a stinger tail that was sparking with electricity every 5 seconds. The merest though of conception was mind-boggling.

"Now, there is no work to be done today," Hagrid explained to the crowd of students, "I brought these in for pleasure purposes only." Behind Harry, a small group of Slytherins snickered. Harry could just hear one of them (probably Malfoy) say, "Pleasure purposes? This is about as pleasing as a broomstick in the eye." Hermione heard them, and quickly grabbed hold on Harry's robe to stop him from doing something stupid. "You can't do anything. Just ignore them." she said quietly.

When class was over, and anyone who had been sparked by the 'Knewts' had been tended to (by Hermione, not Hagrid), they all made their way back to the castle for supper. Harry had managed to put the remark out of his mind, and was quite the opposite of furious. The adrenaline burst was still lingering however, and he shot past Ron and Hermione up to the bridge, stopping at the entrance to wait for them. Swinging his book bag around, and growing increasingly impatient by the second, he started to walk slowly backward the closer they got. When Ron started to walk faster, Harry turned to run to the end of the bridge, but instead ran into a person. His book bag flew out of his hands, and everything the person was carrying fell to the ground. Not looking to see who it was, Harry quickly bent down and started to pick up the books, scrolls, and various other things that had scattered.  
"Sorry," he apologized, stacking the books, "I should have looked first–"  
He glanced up and was face to face with the crashee. The unfortunate person he had collided with was Rowena. He felt his face get hot and quickly looked back down and continued piling up the items, a little more haphazardly...  
"Don't worry about it." she smiled, and took the stack from Harry. "It was just a minor mishap. No harm done!" she walked past him, turned around for a moment,"Thanks." and walked down the hill to the lake.

Harry walked over to the stairs, picked up his book bag, shoving in the few books that had fallen out, and continued walking toward the castle. Ron and Hermione, who had been standing there, snickering the entire time, ran after him.

------------------

Their next Herbology class came far too soon for Harry. He didn't think that he could face Rowena after crashing into her like that, so childishly. _She's going to think I'm completely immature and stupid._ As they were walking down to the greenhouses, Ron and Hermione kept glancing at Harry and then smirking. After a couple minutes Harry snapped.  
"What's wrong with you two?" They just stood there, blank expressions on their faces.  
"Hermione, what on earth is he talking about?" Ron said, most earnestly.  
"I dare say, Ronald, I do not know!" Hermione replied.  
Harry rolled his eyes and walked faster, leaving them two of them laughing like maniacs behind him.

"Today, you will be assigned your partner and your plant." Professor Sprout addressed the class, "Everything is chosen at random, so there should be no objections..." she let that last word hang in mid-air for a moment, then moved on.  
"Let's start with partners. Julian Arnet, you'll be paired with...Patricia Ingles... Florence Battins with..."  
Harry had zoned out...consumed by trying with absolute insistence to NOT look anywhere near Rowena. Suddenly, he felt as if someone was staring at him. The hairs stood up on the back of his neck, but he didn't chance looking up.  
"Harry Potter..." He jerked his head up at the sound of his name, "will be paired with...Hermione Granger." _  
Yes! _He looked over at Hermione, who smiled back at him. _Easiest. Project. Ever._

--------------

"So I got paired with that Milla girl." Ron said at supper that evening, his mouth half-full of mashed potato.  
"Yes, Ron. We were there." Hermione sighed, already reading up on the plant that she and Harry had been assigned, the Chinese Chomping Cabbage.  
"Her accent reminded me a lot of... " Harry broke off when Hermione and Ron looked quizzicly up at him. "Nevermind." He quickly changed the subject. "So, where are we going to keep the... er...cabbage... Hermione?"  
Hermione had been staring across the room, in the general vicinity of the Slytherin table. "Hmm? Oh right, the cabbage." She started to go a bit red, "I though we should keep it in the greenhouse. I spoke with Professor Sprout after class and she agreed that it would be the best place." She buried her face in the book once more.  
Ron, who had grown accustomed to shrugging off odd occurances just went back to serving himself a third helping of mashed potatoes.

* * *

COMMENTARY

pRoNgS-78: Alright, so this chapter isn't as long as the first, and it's certainly less exciting than chapter three's going to be, but I think it was a nice transition chapter...

Ron: Right, transition chapter... basically her way of saying that she couldn't think of anything better to write for this chapter, and is now blaming it on us.

pRoNgS-78: Now, I never said that... of course, it didn't help that the only really interesting thing was Harry running into Rowena.

Ron: You need some better material...Hey!..  
muffled yelling

pRoNgS-78: Tune in next chapter to see Ron get pushed off a bridge.

Ron: hey... take it easy now!

pRoNgS-78: Next time I'll be talking to someone more appreciative. I let someone be partnered with the cute scottish girl and this is what I get... I'll see if Hermione's up for it. Night, all!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

* * *

For the next two days, Harry and Hermione studied their plant. Sitting in the muggy greenhouse for hours at a time, taking notes and poking it with the ends of their quills, trying to get it to react.  
"I think it's dead," said Harry, one Friday evening."It's not dead, Harry," Hermione sighed, "It's in hibernation. And stop poking it!"  
They had, to Harry's great reluctance, skipped supper that night and both their nerves were wearing thin.  
"Well it's hard to study something that doesn't move." Harry replied, casting down his parchment and quill and standing up.  
"Where are you going?" Hermione stood up too, drawing herself up to her full height, which was still a good few inches shorter than Harry.  
He skirted around her, "We need to eat something, Hermione," He appealed to her hunger, "if we want to make it back to the tower without passing out."  
She folded and they put away the cabbage and went back to the castle.

When they entered the Great Hall, it was empty, save for a few students that could pack away more than they probably should. They sat down at the farthest corner of the Gryffindor table and watched as two warm plates of food appeared.Harry didn't even glance at it before shovelling a large amount of food into his mouth. Contented with this new arrangement of less people and more food, he relaxed immensely and brought out that morning's issue of _The_ _Prophet_.   
He glanced at the front page headline. "SEVEN WITCHES AND WIZARDS TO GO ON GRINGOTTS EXPEDITION TO EGYPT NEXT WEEK." Without even looking at the picture, he flipped open the paper and began to vaguely read an article about 'How to Get Your Broom to Find the Snitch For You' on page two.  
Hermione glanced up at the front page, "That sounds interesting."  
Harry shrugged and continued reading, but she snatched the paper away, taking off the front page and giving the rest back. Harry threw her a ruffled glance and tried to find his place. Before he could, Hermione gasped and pulled the paper away again, shoving the front page at him. "Harry, look at the picture!"He only got a quick glance at the centre of the photo before Hermione pulled it away. Three very familiar people were standing there. One wizard with bright red hair and numerous scars, a witch with silvery blonde hair, and, standing beside them, a much younger witch with long black hair, who was waving shyly at him. _It's Cho...  
_"I never thought she'd get a job like that," Hermione said, impressed. "A Grintgotts curse-breaker! Look, even Bill and _Fleur_ are there." She said Fleur's name with a slight air of derision.  
_Cho is a Gringotts curse-breaker. Cho is going to Egypt._ _Cho is going to break curses in Egypt for Gringotts._ No matter how he phrased it, Harry couldn't believe any of it. "She's going to Egypt. With Bill and Fleur. To Egypt."   
"Oh, Harry." Hermione sighed, "Please don't make a scene, we're in the middle of the Great... Hall..." They looked around. It was completely empty except for the two of them. "Well, okay, so the Hall is empty, but you knew that she wasn't going to stay in Britain forever." Hermione stood up, cleared away the pages of _The Prophet_ that were now halfway across the table with her wand, and was about to make an attempt to get Harry away from the table, when he stood up as well.  
Staring at an empty spot at the Ravenclaw table, he spoke, calmly, "You're right. She's finished with school, she can do what she wants."  
Hermione took one tentative step toward Harry, "Should we go back to the common room now?"  
Harry nodded, and they left the Great Hall.

When they arrived back at the common room, Ron wasn't there.  
"He must've gone to bed already," Hermione said, glancing at the clock on the mantle above the fire, "It is almost eleven-thirty.""Yea," Harry said quietly, "It's just that... when she was here, I could never find her. Now that she's gone, I cant seem to get away from her."  
Hermione looked like she didn't really know what to say to this. She was sort of shifting uncomfortably on the couch, so Harry said, "I think I'm going to go to bed too."  
Hermione nodded, "You'll be fine, Harry. Just get some sleep and you'll feel better in the morning."  
Harry seriously doubted that, but he agreed nonetheless, said goodnight to Hermione, and went up to bed.  
Ron was indeed asleep when he entered the 7th year dormitory. Seamus, Dean and Neville's beds were all empty, to Harry's relief. He felt it easier to dwell on his problems with less snoring present.

-------

Come Monday morning, Harry had managed to work up a convincing facade to hide his distress. Hermione was quite pleased 'how he was taking it', and Ron was... well, Ron wasn't any more or less perturbed than usual.

"How far have you two got on your Herbology project?" He asked over breakfast.  
"We didn't really do much over the weekend," Hermione said, cautiously glancing at Harry, "Harry wasn't --"  
"I wasn't able to find my textbook all weekend." he said, stepping firmly on Hermione's foot under the table. "Still haven't found it, in fact."  
"Isn't that it in your bag?" Ron said, pointing at a mossy green book sitting nicely between his black potions book and a thick stack of parchment.  
"Er...Yea, I guess it is. Heh heh... Ahem" Harry laughed a little, nervously.  
Ron raised his eyebrows in a mixed expression of disbelief and amusement.  
Harry shrugged, and Ron shook his head, turning back to his plate.  
Harry elbowed Hermione and glared at her out of the corner of his eye, only to see that she was giggling quietly beside him, one hand covering her mouth, the other trying to find her napkin to dry her eyes.  
"What's the matter with you?" Ron said, and they both jumped, making Hermione's laugh turn to small hiccups.  
Hermione grabbed her wand and, turning her pumpkin juice to water, started to gulp it down in large quantities in hopes of smothering the hiccups.  
Ron turned to Harry, "She's mad I tell you!"  
Harry smiled genuinely for the first time in ages, helping himself to a large stack of pancakes, and watching Hermione spill water on her copy of _The Daily Prophet_.

* * *

pRoNgS-78: Alright, so Chapter 3 wasn't that exciting. 

Hermione: It was... ok... A little short, though.

pRoNgS-78: So true. It just wasn't a very creative day for me, but one of my readers (you know who you are) would have killed me had I not updated, so.

Hermione: I see. I have to admit that I was quite confused about what Harry said. That he can't get away from Cho even after she's left. I didn't understand at first and couldn't think of what to say.

pRoNgS-78: ...I know.

Hermione: I did wonder why you'd made the Waverly girls out to be like Cho, and I can't believe I didn't catch it earlier--

pRoNgS-78: OK! I think that's all we have time for today. I'll see if Harry will come on next time, hopefully he wont be as bothersome as the last two (Throws reproachful glance at Hermione).

Hermione: What? What did I say...?


End file.
